Renowned Alabama attor­ney Bryan Stevenson was award­ed the 2009 Gruber Justice Prize for his ded­i­cat­ed work rep­re­sent­ing death row inmates, indi­gent defen­dants and juve­niles. Stevenson said the $250,000 prize would be direct­ed to the Equal Justice Initiative, an orga­ni­za­tion Stevenson found­ed that is best known for rep­re­sent­ing death row inmates. The Gruber Foundation not­ed that Stevenson and his staff had been respon­si­ble for ​“for rever­sals and reduced sen­tences in more than 75 death penal­ty cas­es.” Stevenson shared his appre­ci­a­tion for the award and spoke of his con­cerns for peo­ple on death row in Alabama with­out lawyers and those as young as 13 sen­tenced to life in prison with­out parole. Stevenson has been con­sis­tent­ly rec­og­nized by the National Law Journal as one of the 100 most influ­en­tial lawyers in the U.S.

(B. Johnson, ​“Montgomery attor­ney wins Gruber Justice Prize,” Montgomery Advertiser, June 11, 2009). The Gruber Justice Prize will be award­ed in a cer­e­mo­ny this fall cel­e­brat­ing the achieve­ments of the recip­i­ents. The Prize is pre­sent­ed to indi­vid­u­als or orga­ni­za­tions for con­tri­bu­tions that have advanced the cause of jus­tice as deliv­ered through the legal sys­tem. The award is intend­ed to acknowl­edge indi­vid­ual efforts, as well as to encour­age fur­ther advance­ments in the field and progress toward bring­ing about a fun­da­men­tal­ly just world. See Representation.

Citation Guide